As with many characters in Lion King, Pumbaa's name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, pumbaa (v.) means "to be foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent".[1] Timon is one of the few characters whose name has no meaning in Swahili; Timon is a historical Greek name, taken to mean "he who respects". Timon's name may also possibly derive from Shakespeare's tragedy Timon of Athens, another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from Hamlet.

Timon is a wise-cracking and self-absorbed meerkat who is known for claiming Pumbaa's ideas as his own, while Pumbaa has flatulence issues. However, Pumbaa is also a fierce warrior, charging into battle like a battering ram, and taking great offense if anyone who's not his friend calls him a pig, at which point he exclaims "They call me Mister pig!"—a reference to Sidney Poitier's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" from the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night. Unlike real meerkats, Timon can walk on his hind legs, while in real life, meerkats walk on all four legs and can only stand on their hind ones.

Based on the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet, Timon and Pumbaa are played by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. Timon was animated and created by Michael Surrey. They made their first appearances in the 1994 film when they shooed away the vultures that swarmed around young Simba, who had collapsed from heat exhaustion. Timon and Pumbaa then took the collapsed lion cub back to a small pool, where they splashed water on him to wake him up. After Simba is awakened by the two, they introduce themselves and welcome Simba to stay with them and follow their hakuna matata philosophy. At first, Simba is confused about Timon and Pumbaa's lifestyle, but it is explained to him in the song "Hakuna Matata".

Many years later, while out on a musical walk with Timon, Pumbaa is distracted by a bug, which he follows into the jungle. The bug leads him right to a hungry lioness prowling around, who then tries to hunt down Pumbaa. She chases the warthog until Simba springs into action, and the two lions engage in conflict. When the lioness pins Simba, he recognizes her as Nala, his childhood playmate. They are happy to be together, but Timon is jealous after they leave for a night of romance. He and Pumbaa start singing the song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" and are joined by Simba and Nala on their night out. Still, the two help Simba defeat Scar and gain his rightful place as the king of the Pride Lands, most notably when they create a hula distraction to lure away Scar's hyenas. Pumbaa single-handedly drives off Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. They also stand on top of Pride Rock along with Simba and Nala when Rafiki presents Simba and Nala's newborn cub to the animals of the Pride Lands.

It is unclear whether Timon and Pumbaa have taken up residence at Pride Rock, or just make frequent visits. They serve as aides to Simba, and are often called upon to keep an eye on his adventurous daughter Kiara so in a way replacing Zazu's role as babysitters. Despite being bumbling, Simba trusts them to look after Kiara, and does not blame them when Kiara runs off as Kiara is known to do just that. When Kiara goes on her first hunt, they are hired to make sure she won't get hurt. Enraged, she escapes from the Pridelands to hunt outside the boundary. Timon and Pumbaa also teach Kovu how to have fun after he forgets due to years of indoctrination in hatred. When Kovu's pride, the Outsiders, turn on Simba and ambush him, Timon is on Simba's side automatically, not even wanting to hear his argument. They later assist in the battle against Kovu's vengeful mother Zira, and her pride of exiled lions, but get chased off and cornered by a group, until Timon threatens to use Pumbaa's tail as a gun and use his gas on them causing them to flee in fear. Despite being slightly cowardly, they are willing to fight for what is right. When Simba tries to make peace with Zira after realizing that both prides "were one", he uses the same advice Timon and Pumbaa gave him when he was a cub (put the past behind you) showing how much he had learned from his old friends.

Timon and Pumbaa are the main characters in this followup, and are revealed to have passed by and caused some key events in the first film before their first appearance. Timon, his mother Ma and Uncle Max were part of a group of meerkats who lived on the savannah, but he was unable to do any job properly, and almost led to the meerkat being eaten by the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed (Pumbaa was revealed to have blocked out part of the scene by sitting on the remote). Feeling depressed, he received counsel from Rafiki, who taught him the "Hakuna Matata" philosophy and told him to "look beyond what you see." Timon took this literally, and set off to find the ultimate paradise. Along the way, he first encountered Pumbaa, and the two became friends. On the way to find paradise, they passed by the presentation of Simba (it turns out that Pumbaa accidentally passed some gas and the smell made a few animals collapse, causing the other animals to think they were bowing and later they all bowed) and Mufasa was very puzzled at seeing this and his majordomo Zazu then tells him they are bowing to his son; Simba, Nala, and animals singing "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" (it was Timon who hit an elephant's leg with a stick, causing the tower of animals to collapse); the elephant graveyard by running from Mufasa who was on the way to save Simba and Nala from the hyenas ("I see carnivores"); the hyenas marching to "Be Prepared" ("something tells me this ain't the traveling company of Riverdance"); and the wildebeest stampede ("Shall we run for our lives?" "Oh yes, let's."). Finally, they reach a beautiful oasis and are enjoying life until they find a collapsed Simba. After rescuing Simba, Timon and Pumbaa find themselves with their hands full trying to keep up with the mischievous cub.

The film also shows more of Simba's life with Timon and Pumbaa before Nala came along, stating that Simba had beaten Timon in nearly every bug-eating contest they had done with one another. Timon and Pumbaa, afraid that Nala would take away their friend, attempted to spoil Simba and Nala's date by letting out bees, a spider, and tripping the two (explaining why they fell down the hill in the first film), but all failed. Later on, they see Simba and Nala quarrelling. They also mistake the appearance of Mufasa's ghost as bad weather ("I think the storm is coming to a head"). After they realize Simba has gone back to take his rightful place as king, it is revealed that Pumbaa had set off to help Simba before Timon, who was indifferent and reluctant. Timon eventually came to his senses thanks to Rafiki's continued advice, and quickly followed, after which Rafiki says, "My work here is done." After providing their hula distraction (shown in the first film. This apparently was Timon's fault because before he did the dance, he asked Simba what his (Simba) plan was to get past the hyenas, Simba replying "Live bait." When Timon realizes he and Pumbaa were the live bait, he sarcastically asked Simba "What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the hula?".[2] A few seconds later, the hyenas wake up and see Timon in a hula skirt, a flower, and a flower necklace and Pumbaa like a cooked pig), the two run into Ma and Uncle Max, who had been searching for Timon ever since he left the meerkat colony. Later on during the fight, they defeated the hyenas by digging a massive tunnel network, sending the hyenas down Pride Rock where they get to take revenge on Scar who had betrayed them. This scene explains what happened to Timon and Pumbaa while Simba is fighting Scar. After Scar is killed in the first film and this film, Timon and Pumbaa show up alive and unharmed against the hyenas that chased them, suggesting to audiences that they have either outsmarted or beat up the hyenas in the first film. At the end, Timon takes his entire meerkat colony to live in the oasis, free from threats.

Despite the appearance of Timon's mother, Ma (who was also given reference in at least one episode of Timon and Pumbaa) and his Uncle Max (believed to be his great uncle due to his age-which may be premature-and the fact that Ma also calls him 'Uncle' Max), Timon's father is never mentioned. However, in deleted scenes, Timon's father is an active character, though he was apparently replaced by Uncle Max.

A different origin story for Timon & Pumbaa is given in Disney's Comic Hits #14 (Nov.,1996). Here Timon's job is to guard the royal castle. He goofs off, and the princess is apparently killed by a snake. Banished for his neglience, he finds Pumbaa and rescues him from hyenas. Together they find the princess -who was only kidnapped by the snake -and save her. The colony welcomes Timon back and lavishly rewards him,including the hand of the princess, but refuses to allow Pumbaa to live in the colony with him. Timon chooses to live as a vagabond to travel with Pumbaa . (This was episode 36 in the syndicated TV series)

Timon and Pumbaa starred in their own animated television series which focuses on their lives. The duo is seen having misadventures in the jungle and they are also seen visiting different places around the world, such as the United States, Spain, and France. This series also reveals their last names: Timon's is revealed to be Berkowitz while Pumbaa's is revealed to be Smith.

It is notable that a pre-existing storyline of how Timon met Pumbaa appeared in this series. This would make the series and The Lion King 1½ independent continuities; However, this pre-existing storyline was later retconned into being a fictional story that Rafiki was telling Zazu.

Timon and Pumbaa appear with several of the film's other characters in the Disney Junior series The Lion Guard, which centers around Simba's second-born cub, Kion. During the series, which is set within the time gap in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride,[3] Timon and Pumbaa are adoptive uncles of a young honey badger named Bunga, who is one of the members of the Lion Guard. When Bunga was an infant, he encountered Timon and Pumbaa singing "Utamu." Instantly smitten, Bunga had begun following them around. Pumbaa wanted to keep Bunga, but Timon didn't want to raise anymore kids since he and Pumbaa have already done so with Simba, but the two friends see that the honey badger wants to be with them as well. Before he accepted Bunga, Timon instructed the honey badger to climb a tree and fetch them some Utamu grubs. When Bunga had succeeded and given the grubs to Timon, the meerkat had allowed him to stay, and the three have lived together ever since.

Timon and Pumbaa made regular appearances in the animated television series Disney's House of Mouse (2001–2002) as guests and also appeared in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. An occasional running gag in the show involved Timon trying to eat Jiminy Cricket, only to be stopped by Pumbaa. The two have made cameos in other Disney films. In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the Genie turns into Pumbaa in a scene saying, "Hakuna Matata"[1] (he also states that he had an "out-of-movie experience"). Timon appears briefly in the Virtual Magic Carpet Ride game included on disc 2 of the 2004 Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD. In Enchanted, Pip accidentally transforms himself momentarily into Pumbaa in the DVD extra "Pip's Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure". Pumbaa also makes a cameo appearance in the "Good Neighbor Cruella" episode of 101 Dalmatians: The Series, as well as making a cameo appearance in Tangled.

They also appear on the packaging of the Kellogg's cereal "Chocolate Mud & Bugs".

A toy Pumbaa briefly appears in the music video to Steps's version of Tragedy in the bedroom of band member H.

In The Jungle Book 2, Timon and Pumbaa can briefly be seen dancing during the song "W-I-L-D" until Baloo bounces them off with his backside.

They reprise their roles from The Lion King in the 2006 video game Kingdom Hearts II. They charge in to battle the hyenas, and are saved by the game's main protagonists Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy. After Simba's coronation, they fear that Simba will forget them and let the other lions eat them, though Sora assures them that Simba will never forget them. Pumbaa later shows his bravery by standing between a pregnant Nala and Scar's "ghost". Ernie Sabella reprises his role as Pumbaa, while Timon is voiced by Bruce Lanoil. Coincidentally, Quinton Flynn also had a role in the game, providing the voice for Axel of Organization XIII.

In 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013, Disney Educational Productions and Underwriters Laboratories coproduced an educational film series called Wild About Safety: Safety Smart with Timon and Pumbaa, where Pumbaa educated Timon on how to stay safe. Ernie Sabella reprised his role as Pumbaa, while Timon was voiced by Bruce Lanoil. Each installment was approximately 11 minutes long. They are all animated in the style of the 1994 TV show. The following titles were produced: